HPSP Chances

[jillybeansalad]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I have searched both the internet in general (google) and this forum, and I can't seem to find my answers. (Maybe I'm not using the correct word combo.)

I'm currently in the Air Force pursuing a bachelor's degree to hopefully get accepted into a Veterinary Medicine program around the time my enlistment ends. I would like to re-enter the military as a Veterinarian (in the Army).

Is the HPSP a difficult thing to earn? Is it generally a high GPA (almost 4.0) that gets them or is it just an overall picture? Does an "average student" have a chance?

Thanks for any help. 🙂 I apologize if I just fail at searching.

JV

 

[notdeadyet]

For med school, if you have an acceptance in hand, you will have an excellent chance of getting a scholarship. They are not competitive at all.

Not sure if it's any different for vet school.

 

[kimoolos]

It's a little different in veterinary school. I'm a 3rd year vet student and got a 2 year HPSP. First off, Army offers 3 year, 2 year, and 1 year HPSP, but no 4 year. Either scholarship = 3 year active. You can apply for HPSP your 1st year of vet school to get the 3 year scholarship, 2nd year of vet school for 2 year scholarship and so on. There is no automatic acceptance if you have a certain GPA or GRE/VCAT score. The 3 year being the most competitive, 2 year not as competitive, and 1 year you're probably likely to get. In the past 4 years at my vet school (Oregon State), there has been one person to get the 3 year, and two people get the 2 year (myself included), and I know several people who applied but didn't get it. Being that you are AF now, that's already a bonus since you've had prior service. I think the main thing they are looking for is some experience, evidence of leadership capabilities, and to prove to them you aren't in it for the money. Grades too probably factor in there, as well as recommendations you have to get (which I hear are pretty heavily relied upon in their decision). Anyways, feel free to ask more questions, I love it so far and have a ADT planned in the near future. Hope this helped.

Oh yeah, editing this. I'm an average student in vet school and I didn't have a 4.0 in undergrad, but was nearly there. I think they will mostly look at your vet school GPA though, since for most of us, we don't do as well as we did in undergrad 🙂

 

[TheGoose]

just out of curiosity - what do vets do in the military

 

[orbitsurgMD]

just out of curiosity - what do vets do in the military

Only the Army has the vets.

Disease research and some supervisory work at animal research facilities. I would guess most of the animal handling details, dogs and ceremonial horse stables probably go civilian contractor. The Navy does mammalian "research"
with porpoises.

 

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

Only the Army has the vets.

Disease research and some supervisory work at animal research facilities. I would guess most of the animal handling details, dogs and ceremonial horse stables probably go civilian contractor. The Navy does mammalian "research"
with porpoises.

I knew a lot of DVMs in the USAF who were public heath officers.

 

[kimoolos]

Veterinarians in the Army are in charge of the care of the military working dogs, all military families pets (including those of AF, Navy, etc), and food inspection. I know that AF still does have a Veterinary division, but from what I hear, they are public health officers as was mentioned. There are civilian vets as well as vet nurses who sometimes work at military facilities, but for the most part any military animal requiring care is provided by the army vet corps. So say your in the AF and down at Davis-Monthan in Arizona, the veterinary treatment facility down there would be Army run. Goarmy.com has some vids from a few veterinary officers who explain all this, pretty cool stuff.

 

[jillybeansalad]

At my base, the vet is an Army vet that's there full time. I've been to bases where there is one Army vet who travels to several different bases on a continuous basis too (like at Cannon AFB).

Thanks for the info, kimoolos! The information was really helpful. 👍

 

[tulane06]

just out of curiosity - what do vets do in the military

From what I understand 90% of what they do is food inspection, about 10% of what they do is animal care and outreach programs in foreign countries.